What became of us

London, when she had written it on her wrist. She had used all the money, and returned the card and half the cash to Penny when she had received her first advance from the publisher for her collection of short stories. Penny had not lived long enough for her to pay back the other half.

    Now, as the coach raced through the rich arable landscape of the Thames Valley, she found herself looking at her arm, as if the mark of the biro might still be there like one of her tattoos, but the skin on the inside of her wrist was pale and white.

Chapter 12

    ‘If we’re not going to Oxford with you, how will Manon be able to take us punting?’ Saskia interrupted, as Roy discussed the timetable for the day with Geraldine, who had insisted on cooking him a proper breakfast.
    ‘Are you sure she said she would?’ Roy asked, ‘this weekend?’
    ‘Of course I’m sure,’ Saskia said, as if she could only barely tolerate his stupidity.
    ‘Of course she’s sure,’ Lily echoed.
    For a moment he found himself feeling cross with Manon, until Geraldine spoke his own thoughts out loud:
    I do think she should have told you, really.’
    And Roy felt obliged to rise to Manon’s defence. She often rings the girls when they’re at Nancy’s house. I think she works in the evenings, so it’s difficult to talk directly to me.’
    Geraldine looked at him sceptically.
    Is she still working in that nightclub in Soho?’
    Thbe disapproval in her voice made it sound as if anon was a stripper at the very least.
    ‘It’s just called a club, not a nightclub. Soho isn’t like it was.’
    ‘I should hope not,’ Geraldine said, whacking an egg on the edge of the frying pan and dropping it into the pan with a determined sizzle.
    He hadn’t seen much of Manon since Penny’s death. She made most of her arrangements to see the children through Nancy the childminder, except for the unexpected call to his office a month or so ago:
    ‘Roy, it’s Manon. Look, I’m coming to this thing, all right?’
    ‘Of course,’ he had replied, delighted. ‘I always seem to miss you when you come to see the kids. They’re always talking about the things they do with you. I asked Saskia who her best friend was the other day and she said you...’ then he realized that he was talking to an empty line. Manon had said what she wanted to say and then hung up on him. 1
    ‘I have to say,’ Geraldine was saying, as if somebody had asked her for a balanced assessment of Manon’s character, ‘she has been wonderful with the children. Better than some people I won’t mention right now...’
    ‘If you mean Ursula, she is a long way away,’ Roy said, wondering why it had fallen to him to defend women who were perfectly able to stand up for themselves, but Geraldine had an uncanny knack of saying things out loud that he had secretly thought himself. He couldn’t deny that he had expected Ursula, who was his sister as well as Penny’s friend, to do more.
    ‘Cracking toast, Gromit,’ Lily suddenly said. Her face was covered in marmalade and crumbs.
    Saskia laughed.
    ‘What did she say?’ Geraldine asked.
    ‘Cracking toast, Gromit!’ Lily and Saskia chorused.
    ‘It’s from one of their videos,’ Roy explained. ‘You know, Wallace and Gromit , the ones that won Oscars?’
    ‘They watch so many videos,’ Geraldine sighed.
    ‘Are we going punting or not?’ Saskia enquired, sensing that a change of subject was required.
    ‘Of course you are, if Manon’s promised,’ Roy said, and was rewarded by both little faces breaking into smiles full of innocent joy.
    ‘Manon, Manon, Manon,’ Lily chanted, like a miniature football hooligan.
    ‘Manon is our favourite auntie,’ Saskia explained, as if Geraldine did not know who they were talking about, ‘except, she’s not really an auntie. She’s more of a godmother without the god bit,’ she went on.
    Roy couldn’t help laughing, glad that his mother-in-law’s face was looking the other way. He noticed that she was scraping at the crispy bits stuck to the bottom of the blackened frying pan with a little more agitation than usual.
    ‘Did she tell you that?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Saskia earnestly.
    ‘Why do you like her so much?’ Roy asked, curious to know what she would say.
    ‘She makes up the best games.’
    ‘What sort of games?’ Geraldine asked suspiciously.
    ‘Well, there’s the waitress game,’ Saskia began.
    ‘We are pretending to be waitresses and Manon is the cuttomer,’ Lily